An Indian woman in Andhra Pradesh’s Nandyal has appealed to the authorities to let her Pakistani national husband live in India or she be permitted to accompany him to Pakistan.
The Pakistani national, Shaik Gulzar Khan alias Gulzar Massih (51), was released from Cherlapally Central prison near Hyderabad last week after Daulat Bi, the wife who is an Indian citizen, filed a petition in the Telangana High Court over his detention.
Khan is a native of Sialkot district in Punjab province of Pakistan and was accused of illegally entering India in 2011 and also forging documents.
He got married to Daulat Bi while working as a painter in Nandyal.
Bi, who was already a mother of one child, went on to marry and have four children with Khan.
What did Bi say?
"My husband has to stay here. He should be given the opportunity to stay here. This is my wish. I will state this in the court when my turn comes," Bi said on Monday (July 24).
She has approached the Telangana High Court in which a hearing is scheduled to be held on her husband’s case on July 27.
Bi said that she has yet not appealed to any authority until now but will do after Hyderabad Police told her that her husband would be deported to Pakistan.
"Hyderabad police told me that he will be sent away to Pakistan. You (Bi) have to stay here but he has to go. But I told them not to separate us. How can we live if he is taken away? I told them to allow him to stay here," Bi said.
How did Bi meet Gulzar Khan
Bi came in touch with Khan through a misdialled call before 2011 when the Pakistani national was trying to contact his friend from Hyderabad.
He worked in Saudi Arabia and the wrong call sparked a relationship with Bi, with whom she talked every day for the next three years.
Bi said Gulzar, a Pathan Muslim from Christian Basti in Kulurval village of Sialkot district in Pakistan, had said that three of his sisters were doctors.
In 2019, the Hyderabad city police arrested Gulzar after charging him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Foreigners Act, and the Passport Act. He was granted bail by a local court later.
However, the Hyderabad Police again took him into custody in February 2022 after obtaining a government order from the state. Khan was detained in Cherlapally Central Prison.
Bi filed a petition in the High Court challenging the detention.
The High Court quashed the state government's detention order against Khan and released him, though the case against him will continue.
Bi said Khan wanted to return to Pakistan as he told her that he had a big family and assets there to enable their family to have a good life.
(With PTI inputs)
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